


I keep seeing you in my dreams

by hicnos



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M, Time Travel, Zack Fair Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:53:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25158049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hicnos/pseuds/hicnos
Summary: “Grab a sword, sweet cheeks. Let’s see if you’re all bark and no bite.”“Wanna see how hard I can bite? Let's, pretty boy.”---Cloud is thrown into a world unknown to him. A world where Zack is alive.
Relationships: Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	1. a dream of delusions

  


Cloud had agreed to go back to Reactor 1 with Barrett. Shinra drones were leaving the dead reactor and causing mayhem for the people below, so they went up to take care of the problem. But, there were more drones than previously thought and Cloud was separated from Barrett.

  


Holding his sword up, Cloud blocked the heavy fire coming from the drones. They advanced towards him, corning Cloud. Beneath him was a lone metal bar that wouldn’t be able to hold up his weight for very long, and beneath that was absolutely nothing. It was a straight drop all the way down to Sector 5. He exhaled slowly. His sword was up defensively, the hilt of his sword beginning to feel hot from the constant fire spell being cast at him. 

  


The church, he remembered. Cloud concluded that Barrett would understand if he escaped, and that Barrett would be able to make it out just fine on his own. Just need to regroup at Seventh Heaven and go in with Tifa and Aerith the next time. With that in mind, he jumped. 

  


Cloud fell from the sky, the air felt heavy against him as he fell faster and faster. Beneath him, the church stood. There seemed to be a hole in the roof already from the last time he fell, a big blob of yellow and white could be seen from above, Cloud knew what they were in a heartbeat: flowers. As he rapidly approached the pile of flora, the ex-SOLDIER held his arms up defensively, as if doing so would help him break his fall. 

  


But, instead of landing on the flowers, he fell through the flowers. A bright light blinded him, but he could tell he was still falling. Closing his eyes, Cloud held his breath in anticipation, bracing himself for the impact. But instead of being greeted by cold, hard stone, he landed on something, or someone. 

  


Someone yelped in surprise as Cloud landed on them, hard, knocking the person off their feet. Cloud gripped onto them, bringing the person close to his chest in order to protect them from the ground. But, instead of hitting stone, Cloud found himself in a soft pile of flowers. Flowers were thrown everywhere from the impact. 

  


The blonde’s back was against the flowers, the guy in his arms was laying on his torso. Cloud looked around for a second, taking in surroundings, before turning his attention to the stranger. A mess of black hair was shoved into the blonde’s chest. A few flowers were scattered on his head, Cloud wouldn’t be surprised if he had some of the yellow flowers in his hair as well.

  


“You alright?” Cloud asked indifferently, unwrapping his arms from around the guy to push him off of his chest. But they moved first, bringing their arms up to trap Cloud’s head in between their arms. Cloud had his guard up as he inched his hand towards his Twin Stinger.

  


"Fuck... Next time warn a guy when you're gonna use them as a human landing pad."

  


His resolve shattered in an instant when he heard the stranger's voice. The blonde felt his body go limp, his sword forgotten at his back.

  


“Hey, you still alive?" It was dark, too dark to see well, but Cloud could see those familiar mako-green eyes shining in the darkness. It couldn’t be, but it was.

  


“...Zack?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nujabes is a good artist, I recommend 'luv(sic.) pt3' by nujabes, super chill
> 
> another day, another fanfic
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Comment down below, I'd love to hear from you guys and what you think so far :3


	2. broken flowers

“...Zack?” Cloud said, voice barely above a whisper, as if he spoke too suddenly he would wake up early and be greeted by Aerith healing some bruises and small cuts on him or just an empty church.

_Yes, it has to be a dream._ Cloud thought to himself. 

“Oh, now this is interesting.” Zack said playfully before turning serious. “Can’t see you well, who are you? With those eyes you gotta be a SOLDIER...” 

The blonde didn’t register the words coming from Zack’s mouth. Cloud couldn’t breathe as he watched the man above him question him, he didn’t know what to do. So, he acted without thinking. It was a dream, might as well make it a good one. 

With shaking hands, Cloud snaked his hands around Zack’s waist and forcefully pulled the taller man onto him. He shoved his face into Zack’s shoulder. Cloud gripped the back of Zack’s shirt, arms firm and muscles taut, refusing to let Zack go.

Surprised, Zack let Cloud hug him. Even though Cloud’s embrace was strong and began to hurt, Zack hesitantly returned the hug and wrapped his arms around Cloud. 

“Hey…” Zack started, snapping Cloud out of his trance. Cloud used his strength to grab onto Zack’s shoulders and held the SOLDIER in place just above him. The blonde’s face was flushed, but Zack wasn’t able to see it under the cover of the night.

“My bad.” Cloud got out, his voice strained. 

Zack sat back, sitting on Cloud’s knees. Then, Cloud gripped Zack’s SOLDIER uniform and pulled himself up, smashing his lips into Zack’s. The SOLDIER’s brain short-circuited when he felt Cloud’s lips moving against his own. Zack made a strangled noise before losing himself in the kiss, closing his eyes and bringing Cloud closer to him. Cloud brushed a flower from Zack’s black hair as he moved his hands behind Zack’s neck, kissing him deeply. Cloud broke the kiss, his breath uneven.

“Now I’m ready to wake up…” Cloud said with a soft smile on his lips, content with the dream.

The blonde let himself fall backwards into the pile of flowers. Zack was frozen, his hands still hovering in the air where Cloud’s waist was. The SOLDIER’s eyes were wide in shock. The weight on Cloud’s legs disappeared, causing him to believe that he was finally awake. He sighed, slightly sad that the dream had to end so soon.

Cloud’s ears perked up at the sound of footsteps. They were rather heavy, maybe Barret?

“Barret?.”

“...Who’s Barrett?” Cloud shot up. Zack was walking out of the pile of broken flowers, his back turned towards Cloud.

“Who exactly are you? Prefer to know the name of the guy who just fell on me, held on to me for dear life, and then ate my face. That is, if ya don’t mind.” Zack said sasily.

The black-haired man turned around to find no one else in the church besides himself. All was silent, and the only proof of Cloud being there that night was the warmth on Zack’s lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listening to lil peep and questioning my life decisions
> 
> Hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter
> 
> Comment what you thought :3


	3. Chapter 3

Cloud’s back was to his mattress as he stared up at the ceiling fan, his hands locked together behind his head. Watching the blades turn slowly, his eyes started to burn. The television acted as white noise in the background. 

He blinked before sitting up, bringing his hand up to rub his eyes. The news is on now, he noticed, his attention still fixed on the broken fan. 

His hand drifted over to the remote at his side.

“... ten year anniversary of President Shinra’s death. This was the main reason of Shinra's collapse ...”

Cloud pressed mute.

The fan’s creaking echoed through the room, making him feel alone, too alone. He let himself fall back, his back hitting the hard mattress. 

He didn’t notice the pain. 

Instead, he laid on his side and watched his hands. Calluses were evident along with smaller injuries galore on his hands. 

Cloud was lost. It has been a few days since the night at the church. He had ended up running.

In his world, after defeating Sephiroth, he had no goal. So, he honed his skills further and further. He pushed himself to his limits.

Now, Cloud has concluded that he was in a future world where things were different. Very different. It wasn't too hard to get used to the new environment. Finding work as a merc was easy enough, and soon he got a place to live.

There was a knock on Cloud’s apartment door. He made no move to get up. Another knock, louder now. It went by unnoticed. Instead of a knock, Cloud heard a voice from the other side, muffled by the door. Reluctantly, Cloud got up and answered it.

A girl. Not any girl. Aerith.

Cloud keeps his composure indifferent. Chances are, if Zack didn't know who he was, then Aerith wouldn't either. He was right.

"Um, excuse me. I heard that you were accepting odd jobs?"

"Depends on the job and pay."

Oh, well you see here, a close friend of mine needs some help. He's in need of another person who's good with a sword."

"What does he want me to do?"

"A few monsters need to be taken care of, that's all. But, he's a little outnumbered even though he denies it."

Cloud considered it for a second before speaking up.

"What's in it for me?"

"750 gil. Please, he can make impulsive decisions and i dob't want him to do something crazy like take them all on at once by himself."

"Fine. I'll help." The pay wasn't bad and the work didn't sound too demanding. An easy job that pays well, but Cloud knew that chances are there was probably a twist somewhere in the job. Aerith's face lit up at this.

"Great! I'm Aerith, by the way! I'll take you to my friend. Your name is Cloud, right? I heard about you from some friends, they all told me that you are a real professional!"

Cloud nodded before grabbing his Twin Stinger from his apartment.

"Let's go." Cloud said before closing his door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cocoa Butter Kisses by Chance the Rapper
> 
> kinda boring chapter, but sets the story up a lil better

**Author's Note:**

> Written some fics before on here on a different account, but I lost them. :(
> 
> Never written a fanfic in this fandom before, so let's see how this goes! 
> 
> By the way, I'm doing short and quick chapters and breaking everything up to make it easy to read! Hope you don't mind! And with short and quick chapters please note that there are going to be a lot of chapters up pretty early on... hopefully lol


End file.
